Personal branding and company branding may seem similar.  They are not.  Personal and company branding are any thing but the same thing.  Personal branding involves the art of presenting yourself in the manner you want others to perceive you in your business ventures.  Business branding is focused around giving that business an identity that will be recognized and respected by their target group or peers.  With small to medium sized companies being formed daily a combination of both personal and company branding must exist.  There is a delicate balance to that equation though.  Personal and company branding are both very different but they need to compliment each other.  Each has positive and negative features.  It takes careful monitoring and attention to the details.  You need to envision the overall picture to make them work together.   When personal branding and company branding lines blur or clash the result is catastrophic.  Take some time to evaluate your company’s branding and your personal branding.  Here’s some information that should help you out.

Make sure your personal branding is delivering the right message

Personal branding can be one of the biggest assets a person has for their career and company.  When you are pragmatic, knowledgeable, and an expert in your field others will give you opportunities.  At minimum, they will give you the opportunity to present.  What happens if your personal branding doesn’t connect with your potential clients though?  You will most likely get nowhere fast.  Some things that can make your personal branding go wrong are being overly arrogant about how good you are or not being able to describe what you bring to the table in a clear, precise way.  If you cannot describe you it is unlikely you can describe your business.  When you look at personal branding there are three main things that you want to have happen.  You want people to receive you.  Do that by understanding who you are and what you provide.  People should remember you.  If you are in their memory banks they will recall you when they need your service.  Last, you want people on repeat.  A great measure of your personal branding success comes from people continuing to think of you, what you do, and being comfortable referring others to you.

Have a focused company branding philosophy

Company branding is the single most dynamic thing that your business puts out there for the public or your prospective clients to see.  If you have a well branded company you gain the possibility that it will generate its own success.  If you don’t people will not fully get what your company is about.  That is a pretty major thing.  Your company branding has to speak as to what you are about when you can’t.  Look around your home.  In every direction you look there is probably one thing in sight that is a brand that you have recognized for a long time and most people that come over would recognize.  How did those companies do that?  They came up with a company branding that made you feel good, need their product, or desire the social status that the company represents through their branding.  That is pretty powerful.  Good company branding will get you recognized.  Bad company branding won’t do anything for you because people won’t remember you at all (which is better than being remembered in a bad light).

Don’t let your personal and company branding contradict each other

Whether you work for a business or you own the business it is important to make sure that your personal branding and company branding send the same message.  If they don’t it will show through in everything you do.  While each type of branding has its own purpose and value proposition they cannot fight each other for dominance.  Personal branding and company branding need to compliment each other.  People do make the company.  Obviously a company needs people to help it run - at least one person.  You cannot underestimate how much people need the company too.  Along with a properly branded company comes employee excitement.  Every employees personal branding is not going to be used in a sales capacity.  If you have created a company where the employees understand your vision, however, you will find that they are some of the best advocates that your company could have.  Those employees may not even realize that they have branded themselves.  The process just keeps flowing from there.  When employees don’t realize they have a personal branding for your company they talk about it easily, naturally, and animatedly.  It is completely sincere and genuine because it is not practiced, preconceived, or fake.  On the flip side, if you are in the visible eye of your company (whether the owner or a decision maker) and others perceive your personal branding negatively they will not be as inclined to do anything to help you out and ensure your success.  It is not necessarily intentional, but it is there. 

Clearing up blurred branding

If you cannot tell what is going on with your company nobody else is going to know either.  The owners and management say one thing.  The company mission statement says another.  What you say you are going to do and what you end up doing is never the same.  The confusion starts on the inside and spreads outward like a wild fire.  Unclear branding and directive will be noticed by your prospective clients.  It does not matter if you sell nails, advertising, or bulldozers.  The best way to separate blurred branding is to tackle your company branding first and then take the excitement from that clear, distinct company branding to work on the personal branding.  If you have an energetic, optimistic company branding it will be contagious.  The excitement that it can generate internally will make people’s personal branding fall into place.  They will all want to do their respective roles better, play a part in creating the company’s success, and take that spirit to the streets.  When you combine those efforts with a focused and directed marketing plan just be prepared - prepared for some amazing productivity. 

Solving your branding blues

The biggest step is acknowledging that you have a branding conflict.  Being proactive from that point forward is the key to fixing it.  Some affordable ways to find out how you are being perceived in the public eye do exist.  Depending on what type of business you are and the size you can always do research by conducting a customer survey, doing a constructive feedback blog, or just asking the people you meet their opinions.  Those are just three options of countless ones.  All provide valuable means to get information and start to decide what you need to do next.  It is not absolutely necessary to hire an agency that can guide you in the right path and get your company branding set up.  Sometimes it is a good idea though because they are an impartial company that specializes in helping with that exact problem.  They can give you unbiased information and advice.  Those agencies have access to other professionals through their network that will help rate and determine your branding and its effectiveness.  They will rate and rank any new branding concepts they help you develop as well.  No matter which route you go to find a solution to your branding blues there is only one acceptable conclusion - a clear company branding that helps develop a clear personal branding.
Personal branding and company branding are both necessary.  You need to have a clear, precise branding with employees and owners that understand their role in that business, what they bring to the table, and how they can help it be prosperous.  While you cannot control everything the one thing you can control is how you create your company branding.  The way you present your company mission and explain your company branding can often be more than enough to help the personal branding fall into place.  The two components can work very well together.  Understanding branding is not something that every savvy business owner just knows and comprehends.  If you are looking at starting a company or revamping your company for different results you have two options:  do it yourself or hire a professional agency.  It does not matter which route you choose if you get one result.  You need to find that you are branded for success.